Sleeping Serenity
by Voice of Nature
Summary: The land has been thrown into chaos by ravaging wars and people adopt a life of hate. A young tactician awakens in this land where love sleeps and ventures out with in an effort to awaken the peace. Saving the land is not easy however, especially when you remember nothing and dead soldiers constantly try to make you one of their own. Oh, and honey cakes thrown in for good measure.
1. Chapter 1

First off, thank you very much for checking this little piece out and taking your time to at least look over it.

First time diving into the Fire Emblem fandom so hopefully this will work out for me. I haven't ever been in this category for some reason but just checking out some reviews I can tell there are many stories about some of the same thing and I noticed some aren't too fond of the main character being the tactician but oh well, that's what I wanted to do so I'm going to do it.

This isn't a self-insert, I want everything to be game based, though I'd be lying if I said my MC was a little like me...

I know there are a lot of these but this is all for fun and I've figured some little twists and add on to spice this story up a bit so hopefully I can keep some people interested till then.

Well then, enough from me, this is the intro chapter and my take on the first portion. Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Cracks of colored light poured into my world of darkness. Suddenly, my era of pure darkness was over-taken by a fast growing swarm of blue lights floating around me. I felt compelled to swat at them, to banish them from my blank world and go away, but my body refused to move, feeling as though my body had been restrained by light chains. Seeing as I couldn't move, I could do little but focus on the little blue nuisances that had invaded my once blissful dark world of sleep.

They were Butterflies.

The little lights were beautiful, shimmering butterflies. Upon closer inspection, I could make out the breathtaking designs etched into each of their wings, surprised I had picked up on such details so quickly but found it to be so beautiful I didn't want to jinx it.

But now I had to question why. Why were these graceful creatures here before me and why the strange colors? Butterflies were normal yes, but glowing blue butterflies not so much...

_There is still a chance._

_Destiny is nothing before you._

_Only you can create what lies ahead and_

_Wake what has been sleeping._

_Trust your bonds and forge a path made only by your heart._

I knew butterflies couldn't speak, but worlds played out in my mind just the same.

I began to question the words, I could understand them easily enough but not for what they meant on a larger scale, so why was it spoken to me..?

It made sense considering how I thought of destiny though. I lived little for the thought of destiny and really thought nothing much of it, destiny was one of those things that some people to shove in your face but I never was one to believe the whole destiny thing. Everything that you do is based on you, not something that has been in set in time and preset for yourself and everyone else.

The butterflies continued this chant of words and began fluttering closer and closer to my body till I could see only flashes of graceful blue from my vision, which was rather sad as I felt robbed of the sight of the beautiful creatures. The feeling of gentle wings tickling my skin rushed upon my body and a feeling of joy quickly overcame me and I was filled with extremely joyous thoughts.

The next instant however, the feeling was gone. It didn't feel as though the tickling had disappeared as much as it was seized. Taken by force and torn away from me and in the same instant. A overwhelming pressure built upon me and my body burned with pain.

It was excruciatingly painful . Painful and crushing. It felt like my body chose to pump lava though my veins rather than blood and then take on needles as new skin. Still unable to move on my own, I was brought down to my knees by the immense pressure around me and was even unable to voice my pain. No sounds came from my mouth. The only sound being the piercing screeching in my head.

Why?! Why was this pain suddenly on me? How could I go from bliss to pain so quickly?!

I felt like the pain lasted for so long, it must have been days, or even months of nothing but this agonizing pain. Not fair seeing as the bliss lasted only minutes…

...And then for a brief moment…I knew. I knew everything that was happening and would happen and I could see it all so clearly, like it was all happening right then and there before me. Years of time flashed before my eyes in an instant. Nothing like life flashing before your eyes before death, I witnessed things I had never seen before and never even knew about in life like a vision of the future...

Then the searing pain in my head came like an explosion and it was all up and gone the moment it came. Frantic, I reached all corners of my mind for what I had just seen and known. How could I lose it? All of it, all those things, there was no way I could have just forgotten everything in an instant! No! I refused to believe it, but no matter how hard I thought against the pain, the events I had seen and knew were gone, all I had of them was the knowledge that I had seen them but absolutely every single detail had been drained bare. All of it had become a case with no evidence.

I panicked. I felt as though I had just fumbled an expensive vase of my mother's and it shattered magnificently across the floor, thousands of shards spraying everywhere and every piece disappearing to the far corners of the world in the same moment.

..Wait. Mother. I knew the word and it's meaning, all about it and yet now that I had placed the woman in my mind, I couldn't dig up a fact about her or my father. A name? A face? A voice? Nothing. Nothing came, it was just blank, I simply knew I had a mother but no other piece of information wanted to come to light and help me out.

My own name then! Once I had my name I could connect it with past memories and I'd figure everything out in time..

….What?

My name!

I can't think of it! I can't think of my name! I can't think of any name!

The pain coursing through my body still burned me but the fear of losing all my thoughts had dug up a even greater mental pain.

A deep echo of a laugh broke my panic attack and thrust my world into a bizarre state of fear. The laugh was terrifying. Like a towering mountain laughing at a tiny sapling, I felt as though a gigantic presence was with me and was enjoying my suffering. The thought of being brave hadn't even occurred to me without the ability to think of what I could be brave for.

_Not yet ready..? The outcome shall be the same nonetheless, I will wait then…_

The voice spoke full of fear. Not what one would think however, it wasn't a voice full of fear but one that breathed fear, just knowing it was speaking instilled a sense of pure terror. I wished for the words of the butterflies now but I could not even recall what they had chanted now…

_Go sleep, guide the world to the awakening…_

Not what i wanted to hear either...

With those final words, the presence disappeared just as quickly as it came and I felt as though I had been released from the chains that had restricted me for so long.

The pain gradually receded to my head and hands but had left the rest of my body. My palms burned for a short time longer and then faded as well. My eyes however, still seeing nothing but the sea of black and faint glow of blue before me, continued to sting and wouldn't seem to let up for anything.

I would have moved now… but the fear was still pressed against me, like it had sunk into my skin. I didn't dare move from where I had been pushed down from the pressure. Strangely, I felt as if I was moving, not just my body moving but the world around me…

Would this nightmare be over anytime soon? Could I wake up soon and be able to embrace all of my memories again and try to forget of this one? I hoped so…

…A rest soon came and I felt still again. A tickly sensation came upon me again, nothing as serene as the butterflies and actually kind of annoying and prickly to my skin. Still, I was too scared to move and didn't want to run the risk of the onset of another terrible presence…

So I waited…

….

…

…And waited…

…..

…And waited….

…

And…Zzzz…

…

...

...

"Huh? What's this?" A gentle concerned voice grew closer to me as I began to come o my senses. "Oh no! It's a person! Chrom, come, quickly!"

So noisy… My brain began to kick in and process sounds and fed what I just heard through. There were obviously people around me now, I could at least gather that much. From what I could tell, it was a female voice. Unfamiliar though. Unfamiliar smell too. The air was crisp and clean and breathing felt really easy, though I didn't feel the need to take big breaths.

"A person? Out here of all places?" This time a masculine voice, obvious from how deep it was but still carried a sweet ring.

"There is drawing of breath at least... Can't be dead, that much is certain." Another masculine voice, this one void of the sweet tone and somewhat on edge yet relaxed. "I assume you've already cast a heal of the fellow regardless"

I needed to get up to see these people but I needed a few more seconds for my energy to return. I could feel my body waking up as a warm feeling surged though me and I could feel a new vigor kick starting my heart.

The female spoke again, this time more quickly. "…Well, yeah, of course Frederick. I had to do something! Come on, Chrom, we have to do SOMETHING!"

"You've already done what you could, Lissa. What do you propose we do?" The soft male voice spoke again.

"I…" The female fumbled with her words shyly, obviously disappointed that she herself couldn't do more, "I…dunno…"

From the sound of it, they were right over me, which was perfect seeing as it was time for me to get up anyway. I had an annoying prickly feeling on my skin I was eager to get rid of.

Gradually, I flicked my eyes open and was met with a slightly blinding sight as I met the pure blue sky with bleary vision. The sky was a truly beautiful first sight after waking up, even if it hurt a bit...

Even more beautiful however were the two faces I soon focused on as took in everything in my vision. A cute young woman with golden hair in long, messy pigtails and a odd head piece and a dashingly handsome young man with messy cobalt hair. Did I mention that they were beautiful?

A sound of relief came from both of them as they looked down at me with sincere smiles.

"I see you're awake now." The young man sounded very relieved, for which I found strange to feel for a complete stranger.

"Hey there!" The girl piped up in an adorable voice to add to his.

I felt my heart skip a beat just looking at both of them smiling and tried to recall the last time two good looking people had even bothered to talk to me.

Looking around for a brief moment the man locked on to me, "There's better places to sleep than the ground you know." I could tell from his voice he was joking, but all of a sudden I could feel myself flush as I realized just how stupid I must have looked now that I realized I was knocked out on the ground outdoors, not a soft comfy bed. The man chuckled at the face I was probably making and reached out his hand to me, "Here. Give me your hand…"

And that…is how everything started.

* * *

So that's the into. I tried to keep it rather generic for now as I'm not sure if I want to sure a female or male MC. I'll see how I feel when I start the next chapter.

Reviews are appreciated to know if there's anything I need to fix, I've gone over it several time, but spotting mistakes is my weak point.

I don't want to make author notes too much of a habit, I just want to say in forward thanks for reading and hope you enjoy future chapters. I will respond to every review and address any questions or concerns in my reply.

Thank you for your time.


	2. Chapter 2

*Edited slightly to fix spelling mistakes that I could find*

* * *

Taking the young man's gloved hand with my own bare hand, he gently lifted me up to a stand. I stood up in what felt like ages and stumbled back slightly to keep my balance as I felt slightly dizzy from the sudden change of position and the difference in weight of my clothes caught me off guard.

"Whoa there," The young man chuckled as he placed a hand on my back for support so I wouldn't fall, "Don't go falling on us again, we just got you up."

I myself grinned and shook my head, "Y-Yeah… thank you, Chrom.." My speech had thankfully returned to me and I could feel a rush of thoughts enter my mind as I was refreshed with some vocabulary.

I had heard his name from the young woman and it just popped out when I spoke, though speaking as casually as I had felt like second nature to me so I thought nothing of it. I found I didn't care much for formalities with names.

A gentle grin and Chrom's sharp eyes softened just slightly, "Ah, then you know who I am?"

Taking a moment to observe my surroundings, I took in the people before me. The two easily identifiable people were the one's named Chrom and Lissa. I had heard them talking to each other so it wasn't terribly hard to figure out who was who, even though I was just waking up. There was another close by,only feet behind the first two, Frederick I assumed from the other name that was spoken. Deductive reasoning made me happy sometimes.

Cocking my head to the side, I locked onto Chrom's face as I spoke, "As I was coming to, I heard some names thrown around. I just paired up what I heard with what I saw." But at the same time… It was strange. I had deduced who he was, yes, but I was really comfortable with seeing him and saying his name, like it just came to me.

"Oh, very clever. Saves us the trouble of going through too many details." He gave me a quick look over, "Now, tell me, What is your name? And what brings one to nap so carelessly on the ground?"

"For lying on the ground, I have no recollection...I just awoke and was here." Figuring it would make sense to introduce myself anyway I shrugged and replied, "As for my name, my name is…" There was a click in my mind and I was unable to think of my name. My mouth moved to speak but no words came out and no thoughts entered my mind for my name. "Hmm..? My name…"

A dark laughter spun in my head, a mocking laughter. It seemed to chant something in a whisper but I couldn't make it out. I tried to dismiss it as nothing… but when I tried, it didn't stop. Like it wasn't controlled by me, it was a thought in my head run rampant and I couldn't slow it down. There was nothing painful about it, just disturbing that a voice existed in my head and wasn't one of my own.

Chrom's face turned to surprise but held a hint of skepticism as he watched me cringe. He glanced back at the man behind him, the heavily armored man with neat brown hair, Frederick, and then turned back to me, "…You don't know your own name?" The disbelief in his voice was very evident.

I tried but I couldn't get anything. I cycled through words in my head but nothing that sounded like it was my name seemed to spring up at me, just the cold mocking laughter of an unknown voice. "I just can't think of…I don't know—" Thoughts flowed in but none of them my name, only questions now, one being what my name was and more importantly, where I was. "This is all very unfamiliar. Where am I, exactly?"

Chrom and Lissa shared a looked of shock and exchanged glances. It was Lissa who spoke first, clapping her hands together as she spoke, "Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia, Chrom! It's when you can't remember anything!"

Amnesia? I shook my head, trying to place the word somewhere in my mind. I knew what is was but did it really fit my situation? I remembered how to talk, walk and think…it was just certain parts of my memory I couldn't recall. My name, where I was from, my parents or any friends. I couldn't place a name or face with any of them, just vague outlines I couldn't even describe…

Frederick stepped forward and locked on to me with a piercing gaze, one of caution and threat. Definitely not someone you would wish to upset greatly. THAT I could tell from just a glance. "I believe the term you're looking for is a load of Pegasus dung. We're to believe you remember speech and communication, but not the name you have been given since birth or where you come from?"

I growled softly and closed my eyes, trying to think. Piss off Pretty boy, I'm thinking here. It's got to be something; I just need to find it! "I'm trying to recall it… but all I hear… all I can think of is this…" I trailed off to a whisper as the laughing intensified and I felt a chill run through my body rendering me unable to speak for a moment.

Chrom seemed to ignore my ramble as I trailed off and turned to Frederick, who still did not look amused, "…But what if it IS true, Frederick It's unusual, yes, but not unheard of. We can't just leave someone out here alone and confused." He grinned, "What sort of Shepherds would we be then?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't be nice to just leave someone out here without food or water and let them wander. It's our duty to help!" Lissa put in, happy and cute as can be.

Shepherds…? Wait…was I being called a sheep. If I was, I didn't directly have a problem with that but it seemed pretty high and mighty to call yourselves shepherds for people. Sheep from what I remember require shepherds because they're stupid animals and need guidance…

A long sigh came from the knight. "Just the same. I will and must emphasize caution…" The armored man glanced her over, staring intently at my hands and clothes, "This one wears the cloak of Plegia's Grimleal cult and even bears their emblem seared to his hands. A very dangerous cult to deal with, even the young are trouble…" He held me in an intense glare and I glared right back, feeling my blood boil from the mention of this Grimleal for some reason.

I hadn't taken the time to notice my own attire though it felt heavier than what I remember usually wearing. It was a thick two layered cloak, a wonderful obsidian color trimmed in gold and purple lining and adorned with gold buttons and threads on the front. The most noticeable feature however were the designs of the sleeves. Deep purple images that resembled many eyes covered both sides and seemed to actually stare back, like a haunted garb that was always watching the world in the same way as the one wearing it.

I looked to my right hand and found a very similar mark on top. Six eyes stared back, with a line going through all of them and a zig-zag at the bottom. It was…creepy, yet it felt like a part of me welcomed it anyway.

"'Twould not do to let a _Plegian_ wolf into our flock, especially one of such questionable origins and a devout follower of Grima..."

I tensed slightly at his words and felt a small fury burn through me as the laughter in my head turned slightly more sinister, as if it liked this feeling of anger and welcomed the man to continue. I broke my glare with the taller man and turned to Chrom, who seemed to be the one in charge here.

Chrom seemed visibly weary now that this information was brought up, but all the same kept a smile trained on me, "Discriminating would get us nowhere, Frederick. Regardless of origin, a person lying down in the ground is in need of help. Right then—we'll take you back to the nearby town and sort this all out."

I was getting taken now? This took a turn in a rather odd direction…"Wait a moment! Do I not get a say in what is done?"

Chrom held up a hand and continued his gentle smile, "Peace, Friend—I promise we will hear all you have to say back in town. Standing where you've just been laying with no food will do none of us any good though. Now come." He didn't even stay to see if I followed as he went about walking to the nearest road.

Lissa beamed a smile at me and nodded, "No worries, we'll help you as much as we can, but he's right, we should get to a safer place first. Maybe food will help you think of some things!" Bless her she was adorable. She had a cheerful charisma that even I had picked up on and felt better just having her talk to me.

Our armored knight friend behind us however, was not so friendly and kept a close on me as we walked. He checked his surroundings carefully but never failed to let me out of his sight for even a moment and I could feel if anything happened, he could and would be on me in a matter of seconds. I wanted to say something, but the long silver lance he had at the ready at his side and the fact that he was now riding an armored horse mount kept my tongue still from saying anything about him.

Without much to do, Lissa and I fell into a small step of talking to one another. I knew she was trying to lighten the mood Frederick had cast and really wanted me to warm up to her. From what I could gather from my talk with Lissa, there were several members of their party that had gone on ahead and so the group of three was just the current party, though I hadn't gotten how many more there were. We chatted for a little awhile about what we saw and she was a pretty good conversation partner, which seemed strange with Chrom usually talking only when needed and Frederick…well, only really talking to advise caution to the other two, but nothing resembling conversation ever came from him.

We had been walking for a good long while before I felt it necessary to really ask what would be done with me. I had no recollection of where I was from or what I was here to do so I had no problems going along with this group aside from not knowing what their intention for me was.

"What is it that you all will do with me?" It sounded from what Frederick had said that I was from a foreign place and from the tone, wherever I was did not like many people from where I came. Not that I remembered any of it anyway…"Am I to be your prisoner because of my Plegian origin?" Whatever that even meant.

Chrom turned to me and laughed, "Ha! No, no. You'll be free to go once we establish that you're of no threat to Ylisse. You obviously hail from Plegia but that's no reason to take you captive."

"…Ylisse?" I questioned cautiously. It felt foreign to my tongue but sounded familiar in my mind and apparently to the laughter n my head as it once again grew sinister as I flopped the word around in my head. I closed my eyes and told the laughter to hush, it was getting on my nerves and I tried to think. "That's where we are now?"

A grunt from Frederick and I had my response. "You, a Grimleal, has never heard of the Halidom? The place of your disdain? Ha! Someone pay this actor. The role of the fool is played quite well. The furrowed brow is especially convincing…"

Okay. I didn't really like Frederick, he was pushing me to a point where I felt uneasy and not really remembering anything about myself, I didn't know what I'd do if I was pushed over the edge.

Chrom and Lissa both sighed at Fredericks's response and Chrom spoke up, "Frederick, please. We need not start any of that." He turned to me and gestured to the surroundings, "This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. And the ruler of this land, Emmeryn, is called the exalt. Opposite of your own king…" he shook his head lightly and sighed.

"Anyway, you've had time to meet us and know our names, I don't believe we've properly introduced ourselves, and after I had asked you of your own. Obviously, I'm Chrom, a fact which you're already aware of and this delicate one here is my little sister, Lissa.." I hadn't even noticed the similarity between them and throughout our entire talk I never put Chrom and Lissa as siblings. Strange how these things work, I just wish i could remember something of my own family

Lissa puffed her cheeks and stomped her feet in opposition to Chrom, "I am NOT delicate! I'm plenty strong and I've shown that on the field! Hmpf!" She turned away from him and looked at me, "Please ignore my brother. He's awfully thick sometimes…nice, but thick."

Chrom sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and grinned shyly.

"But you're lucky the Shepherds found you." Lissa continued, paying no attention to her brother, "Brigands would have been a rude awakening for sure!"

I blinked as I remembered the talk of Shepherds, "Shepherds? Like sheep shepherds…?" I glanced at Frederick, donned in armor riding a horse also in armor, "You tend sheep?... In full armor?" I know I wasn't one to take, but it just seemed stupid to me…

"Just in name, stranger." Chrom chuckled, "But it's a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary here."

I turned to Frederick as he bowed at Chrom though still kept an eye on me.

Frederick the Wary huh? Made more than enough sense to me.

"A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution." The knight eyed me, still not kindly, but his voice was smoother, "I have every wish to trust you stranger, but my station mandates otherwise. Just finding a Plegian in Ylisse soil is enough to raise suspicion in these times."

I now felt a bit disappointed I had been started to dislike him because of that. He was only doing his job, couldn't get mad at him for doing just that.. "I fully understand, if I was in the same position I would change nothing at —" I froze as something popped into my head and I raced to figure out what it was. The laughing had ceased entirely with this new thought and I jumped on the chance to process it before it left.

The three stared at me as I had not yet finished my words and suddenly my words blurted out, "Raze!" I noticed their confused faces and I cleared my throat, "My name that is…is Raze. R-A-Z-E. I just remembered it when Frederick said raise. I suppose that's one mystery solved!"

Chrom cocked his head to the side, "Raze, huh? Not a name of Ylisse, I know of that much." He smirked, "Yeah, you're definitely a Plegian. Well, Raze, we can figure everything out later. We're almost to town anyway. Once we—"

Lissa suddenly gasped in horror, "Chrom, Frederick! Look! The town!"

We all spun around and looked in the same direction as Lissa and saw pillars of smoke in the distance and flickers of flames. It was much too big for someone just cooking something outside and the flames were everywhere. The town was on fire!

"Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt…" Chrom cursed and began to take off, "Lissa, Frederick, let's go, quickly!" Lissa wasted no time and was right behind him.

Fredrick jolted forward with his horse but eyed me still, "What of Raze?"

Yeah…what about me? What does Raze do?

"Unless Raze is on fire as well, it can wait." I smirked inwardly at that, I was beginning to like Chrom.

"Aptly put, milord. The town comes first."

A nod from the knight came as he too began forward with his mount, racing off so quickly that a loose bundle of cloth had fallen off the back of his mount, though he didn't notice as he galloped off at top speed.

I felt like calling after them but I knew not what to say, plus they were getting farther and farther away each moment and my voice would never carry. I glanced down at the long package that had been left behind by Frederick. It was surprising that one so wary would not better secure his items… or was this by chance, a sign to follow? It would be rude to leave this bundle and not return it after all, though in all honestly, I didn't entirely care…

But a little look see wouldn't hurt…right?

I knelt down to the bundle and carefully unwrapped it from its cloth. A shiny bronze sword, a yellow book with ancient writing on it and a small sack lay inside. Before I could reach for any of the items, the laughter in my head roared and vanished again and my vision went blank for a moment.

I thought I had passed out but it lasted only briefly before I could see again…and when I did, it felt as though a new powerful feeling had welled up inside of me.

Words. The text from the book before me suddenly made sense; the ancient language decoded itself in my head in an instant as if it were my first language. The title roughly translated to "Tome of the dark clashing clouds." Whatever the hell that even meant. And for some reason I knew exactly how many pages it had: Exactly 480 pages. And this book…it had a strange feeling to it. When I touched it, my body burst with energy and images of thunder crashing down to earth filled my mind. This was magic!

I knew how to use magic? I never recalled using it before, but it felt right and it felt like I could really use it. Now whether or not I could figure out how was a different thing all together…

Scanning the pages quickly I found that every page was an exact replica of the page before it, word for word not a thing out of place. It was actually all one big direction sheet, it was a guide line on how to use magic and what would have to be done. It warned to be careful of wasting magic and to not try magic without the use of a tome, lest one can control a pure power known as mana through another medium. Reading further warned that each use of the glyph etched on the page would cause one page of the tome to be devoured by the magic and mana clashing so only a limited number of pages could be used per tome.

Most of it made sense to me and I thought about using it now to test my mettle. With 480 pages, what was one try? It wasn't mine but still no harm no foul. Might as well get everything together first…

I stood and picked up the sword, it felt light and familiar in my hands. I could tell it was weak but still finely crafted-and sharp. Perhaps I could try my hand at swordplay, it felt so comfortable anyway, I bet I could do a nice trick or two. I prepared a stance I felt was easy, legs apart and one hand to my side while the other gripped the hilt of the blade. I stepped forward and swung, the weight of the sword suddenly came upon me and I made a clumsy arm, the blade clattering on the ground as I now had a hurt wrist. I probably wasn't the best swordsman… hopefully I could do some training a little later. I sheathed the blade and hooked it to my hip, having it was better than having nothing at all and I didn't seem to have any personal items on me at all save my clothes.

I tied the small sack to my belt, which I discovered contained three small vials of a blue liquid, a general remedy item for pain, mixed with special properties and magic to accelerate the natural healing process…or so the tag in the sack said…

Lastly I picked up the tome and the cloth it was in and tucked the cloth away in a pocket as I held out the tome.

Closing my eyes and envisioning the symbol in the paper, I sought to gather energy in my body to release the power held in the book...

...

…And got nothing...

I honestly didn't know what I was supposed to feel or if I should be feeling anything at all. The directions didn't say anything about not feeling anything at all..

Sighing, I closed the book. I knew I could do it, but I just wasn't doing something right.

But there was time for that later… the back of my mind had been on Chrom and the others, I know I had just met them but I felt a small connection and I wanted to help them if I could…which probably wasn't going to happen seeing as I couldn't use magic and can't wield a sword, but I had to make an effort.

I stuffed the tome in the inside pocket of my cloak and set off in the direction of the now blazing town propelled by what I could only assume was the stupidity of someone with no memories who just wanted some company.

I pray to Grima this is not a bad idea…


	3. Chapter 3

Chaos on a small scale. Pain, suffering and death. Burning flesh and screams of terror. Prayers to a divine being that would never come. Blood spilled and limbs severed. Simple destruction.

This was the town of Hopeton in a nutshell when I arrived. Needless to say, there was not a ton of hope for the town for Hopeton…

A stench I unfortunately recognized polluted the air and filled my lungs.

Death.

It was the heavy metallic smell of spilled blood, a pool of which was before me as a family of four lay torn apart and severed limbs scattered around. The women were beyond recognizable, there was nothing even remotely human about the corpses now, save whatever bones under the skin that weren't crushed.

It took not even 30 seconds of my venture into the town before I first threw up at the sight of a dead body, and ironically vomited over another corpse which made me throw up again after that. My eyes stung with tears and my stomach twisted in a fit, having been emptied several times now it was not happy. Fire burned all around me and consumed most of what could be easily and created a truly hellish sight.

There was something very wrong with me though… even though I had thrown up at the sight of severed body parts and mutilated corpses; there was a part of me… that was actually enjoying this. That thought alone made me throw up even more. How the hell could a part of me enjoy seeing these people hurt? It was disgusting.

My body shook violently as I stumbled through the streets, fully regretting my thoughts of helping the people I had just met. This was no place for me. I had never expected anything this bad when I ran here, but then, where were the others, could they really stand this? Lissa, she seemed so fragile but she didn't hesitate to enter the fray, even knowing the situation could have been like this or worse.

..How was I so weak..?

Back again and louder than ever; the laughing rang in my mind like a never ending echo to answer my question. I could tell the laughing was at me for being so weak this time. For being so pathetic.

I struggled against it, tried to stand up to the feeling but every time my eyes spotted a corpse, my body lost energy and I felt like toppling over.

…

…

I didn't know how I was going to do anything, I thought I'd just faint and probably end up like the others…

…I had never been in a situation like this; I'd never seen so much death and destruction. It was tearing apart at my heart to see so many people robbed of their lives. Adults and children alike, everyone was laid upon the ground in bloody heaps.

_Beautiful bloody heaps…_

The voice in my head had stopped it's laughter to speak finally. I felt as though that thought was my own for only but a split second before I tore it out of my mind.

No! Whatever was going on in my mind was twisted, but it wasn't going to change me. This would never be a beautiful sight; even if my enemy was laid out like this I would still be disgusted. I couldn't fathom that drove people to even take an innocent life or do anything like this.

If anything, I didn't want to get stronger to be able to stand this, I wanted to get stronger so I could stop this. No one should have to suffer like this; no family should be slaughtered without second thought and laid about the ground like trash.

Apparently, this thought process didn't fly so well with the voice in my head and I was treated to lovely little headache as revenge.

It only strengthened my resolve however; I was going to overcome this. I was going to fight. Fight for a world where people would never have to be reduced to this and everyone could be happy. Childish, I know…but everyone's got to aim for something and after seeing this, I wanted nothing more.

I struggled to keep on moving and found myself in the town center. And there in the center of the burning chaos was a sight that would be engraved into my mind forever and spurred the motivation behind what I planned to accomplish.

Sword drawn and eyes full of rage, Chrom was slaughtering men in red tunics, the bandits that had attacked the town. His movements were fluid like a dancer but full of the power of a troll. He wielded his sword with so much grace and power; he cut down three bandits by the time another three were upon him.

It was…stunning. Not that he was killing. No, it was the passion he had in his fighting. He looked like a beautiful war god, dashingly handsome face concentrated fully on the death of so many innocent people and avenging each and every one of them.

It was so different than the dead bodies that were covered in blood; Chrom was weaving through the fire to his enemies and cutting down every single one of them in expert fashion. For such a kind man, you could tell he didn't stand for anyone that killed innocent people.

A painting wouldn't have been able to capture half the majesty that was playing out in front of me.

My resolution seemed to have turned my stomach to iron as I didn't feel the need to empty its contents anymore, not that there was anything left. Dead bodies still weren't a good sight to see but I was improving.

Screaming erupted from my left as I spun to look at what was happening and found Frederick, still on his mount and also sprayed with blood had just run a bandit through with his lance and had flung the body away against a wall with a sickening crack of bones. Even from my distance I could tell his face was stoic, not an ounce of emotion could be read as he rode and plunged his lance into distraught bandits that attempted to escape his range. Most bandits in his path actually fled in so much fear from that blood stained lance that they jumped into the flames to avoid his attack and burned to death.

A thought came to me and I wondered what it would be like if they fought side by side, they would cover less ground, yes, but by fighting by each other they could look out for each other provide morale for their partner. Not to mention they could conserve some of their energy. Their stamina was amazing, but amazing doesn't last forever…

..I really need to stop acting like I know what I'm talking about..

Chrom and Frederick. I had just met them but I knew for a fact this was not what they lived for, they were skilled in the air of combat but I could tell they hated it. They fought only to protect and to avenge the lives lost of those in the town. This was a hell to them, well, it was a hell for most people, but this fighting was hurting them more than the pain they were inflicted. It was so sad… now I know I really wanted to help, it wasn't just the dead who suffered, the living breathed in a living hell trying to stop it from happening.

Neither of them had seen me, not that I really wanted to stand out anyway; I would have just gotten in the way. But it made it wonder…where was Lissa in all of this?

I looked around the blazing battlefield that was probably once a peaceful town and just barley spotted a flash of what looked like Lissa's pig tails. I looked back to the war gods on the field, still relentless in their attack against the bandits. I would probably be better suited to handle whatever Lissa was doing.

Finding I had made my choice I scrambled between the flames of the destruction and made my way to where Lissa was. There was a large house where Lissa was pushing some of surviving members of the town in. She was looking around her and after the people with her were in, she slipped in herself obviously still not noticing me as I moved amidst the flames.

I wasted no time in making my way there to meet her. I stopped in front of the door and sought to open it when it flung open, slamming in my face and Lissa soared out of the opening, pushing me down to the ground and holding a long bronze staff above her head, ready to bash my skull in. Her eyes were sorrowful but held the same beautiful heated look her brother had, one that was not afraid to hurt someone to protect another. It then occurred to me that I have a very strange definition of beautiful… there really was something wrong with me.

Pain had immediately set in once I was on the ground and I was lying several feet from the house after being tackled. I wanted to call out and claim is was me but the pain n my nose afer the door slammed on it kept me from talking.

…

….

Huh?

"Raze?!" Lissa gasped as she scrambled off her and looked wildly at me, "What are you doing here?!" She didn't really give me any time to respond as he squatted down and yanked me up and pushed me into the house she had sprung from. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were a brigand!"

Once inside I could see that there were a lot of people crammed in here, those with families huddled close and there was a lot of crying. And urine. It was disgusting, but a lot of people had probably soiled themselves in the attack and the smell made that very evident.

Lissa ushered me to a free chair and knelt down as she looked me over, "…You followed us here?" Her voice sounded full of regret, like it was her fault.

"Yeah…I wanted to help," It hurt to nod not but I did and grinned weakly, "Didn't think I'd see anything like this though…"

Looking into Lissa's eyes, I saw that she had been through and seen far worse than this. She nodded silently, a sullen look on her face as she held up her staff and began to recite some words under her breath. Her staff lit up like a firework and glowed a soft green aura. The pain in my body pulsed for a moment before I felt a relaxing feeling over come me and I felt a little better.

She smiled once I was feeling better and seemed to gain some of that charisma I had seen earlier, "Just stay here okay? Chrom and Frederick are taking care of the brigand while I round up the townspeople and heal the wounded. We've got to do everything that we can for them!" She looked like she was trying so hard to stay positive and strong.

It made me feel even more pathetic. Which then in turn again fueled me to be better.

"Wait.." I jolted up as she walked away, "I want to help!" This couldn't be a pattern. Not if I wanted to help change all of this… learning to kill and fight might not be the answer, but I needed something. I couldn't always sit on the sidelines!

A coy chuckle echoed in my mind.

'_You want to help..?'_

Those damn voices… why the hell were voices in my head?! …But yes, I want to help...Thought I made that rather clear earlier…

'…_Open your eyes…you have so many to use…' _The voice howled a laughed but I was far from amused.

What the hell was that even supposed to mean? I only had two eyes! And really, aside from somehow picking up ancient text all of a sudden, they weren't doing too many special things at the moment.

The voice went silent after this. Obviously done with helping me for the day, though I was positive the next time something bad happened, I'd hear some laughter…

Guess I was on my own. Again. Thanks crazy voice, now I'm just frustrated again. I kind of hate you.

I snapped back to reality and found Lissa looking at me intently, "I'm not all that useful myself, Raze. All I can really do is heal people… I can't protect you."

I smirked at her and pointed at her staff, "I wouldn't say that. Felt like I was getting attacked by the black knight himself earlier,"

She flushed and looked at her feet, "When Chrom isn't here I have to defend the people the best I can..."

I walked over and patted her head, "And you're doing an amazing job. Now come on, we have to make sure everyone is safe right? I'll do what I can to see you through safely myself, I can't promise much since I can barley use a sword right, but if I swing it like you swing that staff, I'd say I could put some hurt on some of those brigands."

"Right!" Lissa chuckled lightly and turned to face the townspeople, "Everyone, I'll be back as soon as I can with anyone else I find. Support your neighbors and help them if they need it, we're going to try and drive these bandits away for good!"

Few people nodded in acknowledgement to her words. Their hope was gone after having so many lost, no amount of peppy words could change that. All we could do is make good and get rid of the dastards raiding the town.

Lissa and I exchanged looks and nodded to each other and then walked out of the house, her staff drawn and my sword drawn.

I took a deep breath as we moved into the streets of carnage once more and my ears rang with the clang of metal against metal, sounds of a fight where Frederick and Chrom were. Lissa cringed at the sound of her brother yelling as he cut down brigand after brigand. It must have been hard on her to know that's what her brother became when he was fighting like this…

I looked around for any evidence of civilian life and spotted an area somehow not covered in flames. "Come on," I whispered to Lissa and motioned towards the clear area.

We rushed down the street to the free area. It was strange that the rest of the town had been free from this when everything else was blazing… but why? There wasn't anything special about this part right…?

"Loot is all, get all the valuables! Huh? What do we have here?"

Lissa and I froze as a large man emerged from one of the houses and stared us down. He was large in terms of stature and worse no shirt just a wolf skin pelt on top of his head and loose fitting red pants. Oh, and an axe. Yeah, he had a big bloody axe.

Finally it clicked. This area wasn't touched because it was in the process of being raided. I would pick my death right as I realized it was time to be brave.

I tensed up and held my sword at the ready in front of me. It was time for my first fight…and it was going to be one hell of a doozy.

"Lissa," I glanced back at the girl and she was glaring at the giant man before me. She knew before I did that we had to take care of this guy and that while she could whack him with her staff…it was really up to me to provide for much of this battle. Good thing I was so good with a sword, right?

Growling at myself for feeling so nervous, I nodded back at her, "Stay close Lissa, there's no way I can overpower him, and that axe will kill us if he gets us with it…but I've got a plan…"

I tightened my grip on my sword and a tingling sensation came from my wrist, reminding me that I wasn't very good with a weapon. Didn't have much of a choice now though, it was fight or die. And hopefully not both...

The large man watched me with a vicious grin, he had probably sized me up already and whatever conclusion he came to, I'm sure my head not being on my body was pretty close to what he thought was going to happen.

…Now or never, Raze, it's time to take the next step towards the plan.

I raced towards him, both hands grasping the hilt of the sword as I held it above my shoulder. We engaged as soon as was close enough and he had his axe drawn out. He had lazily used his to block my slice to his shoulder and the vibrations from my sword clashing against his axe sent shivers down my spine. It took seconds to recover but I had wished it was sooner.

The large man was upon me in the moments I was trying to recover and used his beefy arm to lift his axe and swing the blunt side at me. I had watched his moments and noted how he had turned the axe and jumped back in time to avoid the swing. Lucky me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Lissa running up behind the brute. Seeing as how he was focused on me, it gave Lissa a chance to get behind him and do her thing. I still needed to do my part however and appear to be a threat to him till I was given the chance.

Once again, I raced towards him and swung my sword, which he clearly guessed and once again used his axe to block by pushing into my attack, but I wasn't caught off guard this time and let go of the hilt as soon as they were close to making contact. Not the smartest move seeing as my sword was now flung away from me, but when I had let go the brute had leaned forward and lost his own balance when there was no force behind the sword he hit and he stumbled slightly.

And that's when I got him. The moment he stumbled forward, I nodded to Lissa and clocked him right in his fat throat with my fist as hard as I possibly could in a sloppy uppercut as Lissa ran up from behind and nailed him over the head with her staff. Having the wind knocked out of him from getting punched in the throat and then hit over the head sent him sprawling to the ground in a crumpled mess. Lissa tumbled over him after her strike but quickly regained her balance and wasted no time in nailing the fellow in the head a few more times.

Elegant? No. Effective? Not really…but it worked and that was good enough for me. Won my first fight by punching a guy in the throat but I guess I shouldn't feel too bad as he would've split mine if he had the chance… The only sad thing was what took Chrom and Frederick seconds took some time for me and even then I was getting help.

I went to go retrieve my sword so I could be armed once more when heard Lissa yelp and a deep nasty growling sound. I yanked the sword up and faced Lissa again. The brute we just knocked over was back up and swinging his axe madly, Lissa was trying to get away but he just kept advancing on her as he started running after her.

Damn. No victory celebration yet. I suppose it would have to wait till this was all over.

I slammed my feet on the ground as I raced towards them, knowing I couldn't leave Lissa to try and avoid that deadly axe forever.

I glanced at my sword and I knew what I had to do…

Running up from behind the berserk bastard, I ran the sharp point of my sword through his back. He stood in shook and I was frozen in shock. Had I really just done that..? He moved and out of fear I twisted the blade and heard a small pop from the front as the sword cut through the skin on his belly. I tried not to think of it too much for fear that I'd vomit again. I had just ran someone through with a sword and killed them…

He screamed a scream so horrid I felt myself tear up and blood dribbled out of the wound where my sword lay in his back and he finally fell to his ground, still clutching his axe.

The feeling that overwhelmed me almost made me want to apologize to the guy. I wasn't going to be sick, but I wanted to. I wanted any feeling other than guilt that I had just taken a human life…

Shutting my eyes, I pulled the sword from his back and stared at the wound for a moment, then turned away in disgust and looked at Lissa, who was trembling before me. I ran over to her and sighed, not really knowing what to say. "You okay..?" I'm an idiot, I know but I didn't know what else to say.

Lissa nodded shyly and wiped away some of the tears that had welled up, "I'm fine," She murmured and smiled weakly, "It was lucky neither of us got hurt!"

Mhm. Yeah. We weren't hurt. But someone was dead because I want to create peace. Did that make any sense? Would I have to climb a mountain of corpses before peace could be attained…and even then, would peace be possible? This was so messed up. I thought I found a way and now I'm back to square one, cue the sinister laughter in my head.

And right on schedule it came. The haunting laughter in my mind that comes whenever I need alone time. Pleased with my work, the laughter was sadistically happy and instead of mocking, it praised me. I didn't want to be praised though…not for taking a man's life…

…

…

Lissa poked my shoulder gently, "Raze..? Are you alright?"

"Oh…yeah, just took another human's life to save my own…just, thinking about that…."

She kicked at the ground, "It doesn't get any easier, Raze… but you'll drive yourself crazy if you think about it all the time."

She looked at the body I had made into a corpse and looked around, "There will be more like him ahead, we've still got to save people, let's get going."

I nodded silently and followed after her with my sword at the ready. Only one kill and I'm already going back on what I had resolved to do. I knew this was a bad idea.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time of my twelfth kill, I was starting to get the hang of how to actually wield a weapon. Kind of. Nothing fancy like Chrom and not nearly as destructive as Frederick but something I would credit to my own survival instincts and a dab of what I remembered from texts that had come back to me during our travel through town.

Strength was definitely my weakness. In all honesty, I didn't have much power behind any of my strikes so trying to directly attack was useless and would often end with me getting smacked around like a rag doll.

What I lacked in strength I somewhat made up for in speed and skill. I found I could get around my opponents very easily once I got a feel of how they would attack. As we progressed further into the district that wasn't burning I had been gradually regaining some of my memory of fighting. I had never really fought myself, which didn't take me long to figure out, but apparently I had spent years upon years reading various techniques from all kinds of weapons and magic and had even observed orthodox and unorthodox styles of combat.

While a sword felt familiar in my hand as I had read so much about it, I wasn't able to put much of it to practice while engaged in combat. I knew the moves and the motions but they felt so foreign to my body I could barely execute them correctly. I could however, still read most of the attacks that came at me once I could process the strike.

I read each swing from a sword and axe precisely from the position it was swung at and could predict the weapon's effectiveness in the hands of an opponent even before battle based on the wielders' stance, arm length, and height and could guess the approximate weight and force that a weapon would have when used. Of course, it wasn't always spot on and didn't stop me from getting nicked and thrown around by men much larger than me.

It was exhilarating anticipating my next opponent, thinking of what weapon I would have to face next just jump started something within me.

Most of the forms I'd seen from the brigands I killed were crude unorthodox fighting styles with swords or a hand axe, which wasn't hard to combat once I used my speed against them and devised strategies for ways to get closer and attack faster.

Sword forms were sloppy and easily to maneuver around, full of either wild slashes or desperate stabs and lunges. Those with axes swung only with power and intent to cleave with no precision at all so dodging wasn't too much of a problem.

I could tell they weren't really expecting to have anyone fight back and most had perhaps even only recently picked up a weapon like I had.

Lissa was thoroughly impressed by my improvement and took care of healing me with her own magic while also assisting me in dispatching the rouges while providing excellent moral support. I found having cute bubbly girls cheer you on sometimes makes you want to show off and impress them. Or maybe it was just me…

Lissa and I had just finished clearing a few of the houses of brigands and had a group of ten to take back to the safe house now: Three women, six children and a new born baby from one of the women.

I wish there were more…but we hadn't been able to save everyone. Two mothers had been cut down right in front their own children and there were many more we weren't able to reach in time… It was terrible to witness a death at such a young age, especially if those taken are your parents. I couldn't imagine the pain all of them must have felt, I couldn't remember my family at all, so I had no clue if they were in any better state than this.

Lissa and I held our tears as we listened to some of the children cry for their parents that they'd never see alive again and continued onward, Lissa took to healing whoever needed healing and supporting people as best she could and I walked a good distance ahead away from the group…

…Even though I had tried to save these people, the way I spoke, my accent that is, the cloak I wore and the marks on my skin made these people very nervous around me. A few had even cursed and blamed me for this raid and refused to come with the group because of me in which Lissa took to explaining where to find the safe house as I distanced myself so they'd stop throwing things or glaring at me. I know they didn't mean to push me away personally, but they were scared and all around them their friends and family were being killed. I could do little but accept that Plegians were to blame and being a Plegian, I wasn't going to get a pat on the back from any of them or even a thank you. I wouldn't part with my only cloak and I had taken to wearing a pair of gloves I took for a bandit I killed, but there was nothing else I could really do about my accent or the way I looked. I had no need to prove myself to the people that I was here for them anyway. I was going to save them whether they wanted it or not.

We guided everyone through the flames...well, I went ahead and called out to Lissa and she in turn talked to the townsfolk and guided them from my instructions.

After everyone was in and I was tired of being constantly glared at, I stepped outside with Lissa to keep her company. Better to be outside in a burning hell than inside where everyone hated me...

The blond hair girl saw me as I came out and smiled, "You've been holding up really well, Raze. I never could have done all this without your help!"

I flushed and nodded shyly. We really had covered a lot of ground and some of those bandits were a far bit stronger than I had expected, I was just glad I was here to help Lissa so she didn't have to go about it all on her own.

"I'm just doing what I can to help really; this whole thing has really been enlightening for me. Not just helping people, but learning how to fight and know how it feels to really fight for someone's sake. It's a really good feeling."

She nodded and looked back to the burning town.

"I think Chrom and Frederick are almost done checking the town over for anyone hiding, they came by just a short while ago and told us to just wait here." She grinned, "And I think you'll like this. They've already checked out the area we were in and even Frederick was impressed by the way he saw how you handled things. You should be proud when a stick in the mud like Frederick is impressed!"

"…A stick in the mud like who, milady?"

We both jumped as Frederick and Chrom rounded the corner, Chrom chuckling at the comment his sister had made and Frederick stone faced as usual.

"Am I to assume this is how I am spoken of every time I am not present?"

"Oh, Frederick! Of course not!" Lissa beamed an innocent smile at the armored knight.

"If anything, we say it more when we know you're around." Chrom added with a grin.

Still not showing any emotion on that stony face, Frederick shook his head, "I see both of you remain amusing as ever."

Lissa, Chrom and I shared a quick laugh before Chrom turned his attention towards me. He walked up to me laid a hand on my shoulder as he looked me in the eyes, "Raze, Lissa has told us how you helped her and the people of this town. Are you alright?"

I nodded and grinned, "I'm fine, really. It was my pleasure to help out. I can't say everyone appreciates it…but I just glad to assist."

Frederick looked to Chrom and narrowed his eyes, "I can imagine that much is true. Those that have attacked the town speak with a Plegian tongue, same as you Raze, now that I take more notice. The only time the people hear a Plegian accent, there is bound to be murder just around the corner."

I nodded grimly. Based on the way everyone in town acted, I didn't doubt that at all.

"I can't thank you enough for lending us your strength to help strangers, especially with how you must be treated. I can't apologize enough for that. For your kindness, you have proven yourself a friend." Chrom returned his hand to his side and smiled that dazzling smile of his, "Having another ally at my side gives me the courage to keep fighting. Don't fret Raze, though you hail from Plegia, I can see well enough that you're nothing like those that have attacked the town."

It felt really comforting to know that they trusted me so much (save Frederick…)… but I was too proud to say anything. It must've showed on my face because I heard Lissa giggle and Frederick snort. "Wait…It isn't over?"

"Afraid not, the leader of these brigands, a man named Garrick has two people skilled in magic by his side. Every time we get close, they blast magic at us to gain cover and flee. We've chased them all around town to no avail, neither Frederick nor I can avoid their magic in time to get close enough…Fire and wind magic."

"And Miriel isn't here to assist us with magic…" Lissa sighed.

Miriel as I recalled was another shepherd that wasn't with the group right now, but I was now confused. I blinked at Lissa, "But can't you use magic? Isn't that what you use to heal people?"

"Healing magic I can do just fine…its attacking magic I can't do. It's too destructive for me to handle."

As versed as I was with knowledge of magic, I didn't think the two were vastly different. One of destruction and the other was healing but I had assumed the two could be interchanged if used correctly. I questioned why Lissa hadn't used any attack magic earlier and smacked myself for being an idiot.

The laughter in my head crept back up and tugged at my thoughts. My mind went back to the tome I had gotten from the bundle Frederick had dropped. Oh laughter, how you do help me sometimes.

I pulled the forgotten tome from my cloak and presented it to the group.

Frederick looked at the tome and then at the sword at my side, "Ah yes, Lissa told me you picked up the items that had dropped from Alistair." He patted the horse' neck gently, "I hadn't meant to be so careless but it seems it all worked out in the end, though I'll be sure to secure our items better henceforth."

"Wait, you can use magic, Raze?" Chrom stared at me in wonder.

I shrugged my shoulders as I looked at the book, remembering earlier when I had tried to use magic, "Yeah…I guess so. I mean…I think so. I believe… I could check again?" I blinked and looked at everyone.

They all took a nervous step back and eyed each other. Lissa frowned, "You…believe so?"

"That doesn't sound very safe; maybe we shouldn't test that out, yeah? If you do…I'll just stay a few paces behind you." Chrom added.

Well that hurt. I did understand their concern though, magic was not something out wanted to really take chances with. If I couldn't perform magic then would there really be a difference now..?

I don't know why… but I felt like something really had changed within me. I wasn't used to a sword at first but I had made that work somehow. Magic was a different class altogether… but there was still a chance.

"No. I can control it now…I'm sure of it." I was not. But confidence never hurt anyone.

I walked a little ways away from the group and held the book in left hand. I faced opposite my new friends and closed my eyes, once again concentrating on the symbol in the book and picturing my own body being a vessel for the power I needed to channel and my outstretched arm was where I would release it.

My mind set on the image, my opened my eyes. Power flowed through the tome in my hand and I could feel the powerful static it created all over my body in little pricks. Sparks gradually built up around symbol in my mind, dancing spastically as it outlined the figure. When I felt enough energy had been taken from the book, I forced the sparks in my mind away from the image and instead guided it up from the book and from my head to my palm of my right hand. The cover of the tome flew open as if a gust of wind had lifted it and then was followed by all of the pages flipping on their own, page by page at a rapid pace towards the end cover. All of the pages being identical, I chose a page at random to sacrifice and kept the energy steady as it surged through my arm.

The page was gobbled up instantly by something I couldn't see and the next moment power erupted from my hand and a bolt of energy sprung from my palm like an arrow from a bow speeding out and bursting with energy until it collided with a distant pillar that shattered into a nearby burning shed and fell, now being slowly fed to the flames around it.

The whole event had taken no more than five or six seconds but it felt like so long when I had turned my attention back on reality.

"See?" I smirked as I turned back to the group and found them looking rather pleased, save Frederick.

"Raze, I commend you on that brilliant display and am quite pleased to see you know magic…" Frederick cleared his throat, and kept a straight face, "But our intentions are to save the town, not to, and pardon my pun…raze it even more."

Ohhhh…right…I might have momentarily forgotten that…

There was a moment of silence and then Lissa exploded into a fit of giggles and Chrom followed with his own hearty chuckle at Frederick's quip. I flushed and felt blood rush to my face as the desire to slink away and hide under a rock set in…

…And guess who else was laughing? Yeah…the voice in my head found that to be rather entertaining to. Finally got to cast some kick-ass magic and Frederick steals the show by making fun of my name…

If there was ever a stranger sight it was Chrom and Lissa laughing their butts off as Frederick waited for them to stop, all the while a burning town surrounding them.

"I'm sorry Raze; it's just that you only get something like that out of Frederick every few years..." Once Chrom had calmed down and wiped away his tears he again walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, "That's excellent though, Raze! You're turning out to be quite the force to be reckoned with."

Lissa chimed in and winked at me, "Magic, sorcery and tactics all in the same day! Is there anything you can't do?"

They were doing the whole being really kind and supportive thing and I wasn't really able to handle that too well so I just shyly chuckled.

"With magic at our disposal, we could actually negate their magic and finally get close enough…" The blue haired man tapped his chin to think, "But first we'd have to find them again."

"Another search through the town, milord?" Frederick grabbed the reigns of his horse to lead back into the town.

"I'm afraid so, this town won't be safe until we can find Garrick and put an end to him."

Almost forgetting it was there, the laughing intensified once more and I had a brief headache and an small pain in my hand. This was really getting annoying. My eyes stung for a moment and my vision tumbled over to someplace entirely new, throwing me off as the headache faded. I was looking at someplace in town I had seen before I met up with the others, I could tell from the layout and fire this was the town of Hopeton but I was still right by the others, I knew that much from sounds around me… but my sight… I was looking at a place not in my line of vision.

It was almost like I was a bird looking down at an area. I saw a small plaza, not too covered in flames and three men on a bridge leading to a huge building: one a hulking man dressed in red with scars and paints on his face and two smaller men in long red cloaks. Just from looking at them I knew they were the guys we were looking for and identified their weapons. The large man had two bloody hand axes strapped to his back and the others had books, once a red book and the other green, fire and wind tomes from the look of it.

So…I knew where they were? I knew that area in an instant took in every detail and created a map in my mind as my vision returned to normal. What was this anyway? Was what I am seeing even real? Something told me it was and despite the strange feeling, I decided to trust it…

"Wait!" I called after Chrom and Frederick. Once they stopped and turned to me, surprised, I continued, "I see them…" I tried to make sense of it myself before speaking but found it useless to try it now, "I can see where they are."

Not questioning me, Chrom and Frederick tensed and drew their weapons, looking around for a nearby enemy. I waved my hand and shook my head, "Not here though…" I turned in the direction my map had drawn for and pointed, "Down here, they're near the town hall."

Chrom looked questioningly at me, "…Raze, how do you know that?"

I swallowed as I looked between the three of them, "I don't know. I just see it in my head, I see where they are, their weapons, everything around them…" I shook my head, and locked eyes with Chrom. "I know it sounds crazy but you have to trust me. I know I saw that area when I first arrived and memorized the layout."

"Peace, Raze. No one said anything about not trusting you…. You've risked life and limb to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's more than enough to trust you."

"What of your head, milord? Do you heed its warnings? As trustworthy as he might seem, a claim of that nature should rouse at least some doubt." As much as I hated to admit it, Frederick was always pretty much spot on with everything fishy around me.

"I can't say it all makes sense to me, but would you really have me risk a chance like this? As bizarre as it sounds, he appears to be an able tactician and there have been legends of tacticians of past with similar revelations. We'd be fools to turn away such a skill."

"We live not for legends, milord… But perhaps with this new found ability, our Plegian friend has remembered some of his past as well?" The knight and I locked glances for but a moment before I tore away to look at the ground.

"I know it sounds strange... I can't say why only certain parts are coming to me at times, Frederick. If I knew any more than I have already said, I wouldn't waste any time to share it."

"Don't mind Frederick. You've done nothing but help, friend and I do trust you, from what Lissa told me you do seem to have a keen observation skills and your studies have given you amazing insight on the battlefield." Chrom looked to Frederick, "What say you, Frederick? If he was to kill us, we would have already been locked in combat long ago, would we not?"

The knight glared at me and then turned to Chrom again, "I say if he really were a Plegian spy, he plays the part worse than a wolf in sheep wool. Even a child woud lay a a more worthwhile trap." I wasn't absolutely sure, I but I think that was his way of saying I was being given a chance…

"Then we go by your command, Raze. I trust you carry a plan in that mind of yours?"

I smirked, "Oh Chrom, I thought you'd never ask."

I turned to close my eyes as I thought of the plan, "Our goal is down the leader, break the strongest of their men and even those who cling to life lose morale. But with magic users, and even with my own, fighting all three at once is unwise. There's a certain amount of concentration needed to cast each magic, the time isn't too different but the speed in which it travels varies. Fire and Wind magic are both far too dangerous and fast to attack head on… and on foot there's no way we could get close enough to engage and getting close to all three would be close to impossible..." I started drawing out plans in my mind in an efficient way to deal with our three targets and it all came together.

But how could we use this to our advantage...? Fire is a dangerous element to cast and not one you can cast too close to you allies as it can't be commanded and spreads savagely once released, leaving wind to only act as fuel when cast against it. Wind isn't as strong but can cover more in a shorter time so my thunder broken down to sparks if they met. Thunder is controlled and concentrated and could disrupt fire… but only if used correctly.

Having my magic against theirs wouldn't end well for me, I could strike through the fire mage but in that time he wind mage could have me blown away. I needed time for my casting and Chrom, Lissa and Frederick were all there to assist me if need be…

Wait… The bridge! The bridge they were on could provide for a cover till we were ready to strike. Frederick on his horse couldn't come, and his armor would be too heavy anyway… but Lissa and Chrom could easily come with me to the bridge.

I turned to Frederick, "There's no way any of us can get close enough and avoid the magic but on your horse, you stand a chance to outrun both flames and gales and provide a chance to get their attention. Now, you wouldn't be fighting, they could easily use both wind and fire to provide cover once more and run or roast you and knock you away, they're stationary now as it looks like they're counting and going through the valuables they've got but that won't last forever. A simple rush in would do, they can easily see the entrance to the area and I doubt they wouldn't be cautious enough to watch it so all we would need is to draw attention and avoid the magic for but a small amount of time."

"Chrom, Lissa, our enemies stand on a small bridge, water flowing underneath. The water isn't too deep, but enough to wade in quietly if we come from the right area and submerged ourselves for cover and we could hide right underneath them as long as we remain quiet. Once Frederick has drawn their attention and magic is cast, they'll be expecting Frederick to retreat, and if they try to flee themselves, we'll be posted under the bridge so we could climb up and attack, at which point Frederick can come back and we can finish them all off." I pointed ahead to a sloped area where the water started to circle around the town.

It was nothing super tactical but it provided time and a way to avoid all of us engaging the magic users.

The group thought about it for a bit, Chrom and Frederick discussed some more details while Lissa and I a quick chat about her role and how unhappy she was about the idea of getting in the water.

"Lissa, I know it's going to be uncomfortable because of your clothes but it is very important that as soon as we get out of the water you go for knocking some heads with your staff. You're the lightest so you'll be going up first and Chrom and I will follow right after to attack the leader."

Lissa pouted for a moment but nodded, "This had better work, Raze. I'm not getting my clothes wet for nothing..."

I chuckled and gave her a grin, "No worries, there's always room for error but as long as we get going, everything should more or less go according to plan."

Frederick and Chrom then gave their attention to me again as I gave him my tome, as it would have no use wet, and instructed Frederick to where he should go and to wait for eight minutes before proceeding. Frederick spoke afterwards as he trotted off towards his station, "It is not the best plan that we could have but it seems the best we have for now. I advise extreme caution in the waters, burning structures could be prone to falling and there is no place safe while submerged."

"…Also. Raze, if anything should happen to either of them, I shall have your head at the end of my lance."

I started to try and re-think my plan a safer way, but decided it would be best to hurry on. "Duly noted Frederick, I'll see them through safely till they are back in your care."

The knight nodded and gave the best stone face expression he could muster before riding off.

Chrom slapped my back once the knight was gone and grinned, "Let's get going ourselves. Time to see for myself how your plans work out."

They told the townspeople once more to remain in the house and that we would come back when it was all clear. I stayed outside for obvious reasons and created some back up plans just in case and then as soon as Chrom and Lissa were finished we left.

Our trip in the water went relatively well, Lissa's dress was more of an inconvenience than I planned for and limited her movements in water but she refused to ditch the metal frame that gave it that poofy look. It wasn't practical to me…but Chrom told me to just drop it since I wouldn't understand.

There were a few instances where a few bricks or planks would fall in the water but we had all made it to the bridge unharmed thanks to my directions. The most annoying thing was how our hair clung to our faces when we surfaced. Lissa and I were fairly annoyed, as I had long pesky black bangs that kept covering my eyes and Lissa's hair had just become one big mass of sopping blonde hair. Chrom obviously didn't mind and found it funny to poke jokes at us whenever we all surfaced together.

We had made good time however and were right under the bridge well before our ten minutes were up. We had thankfully gone unnoticed when we surfaced for air and waited for the sounds that would be our signal.

Chrom and I slowly made our way to Lissa and got ready to lift her up, grabbing her by the frame in her dress. We all exchanged silent glances as we waited and listened to the brigands talk amongst themselves about things they had done…things I didn't even want to repeat. It took all we had not to go now and shut them up for good. So we continued waiting.

It was only a minute before one of them started yelling about someone on a horse and the sounds of the magic users starting their casting. We listened as the footsteps above us on the bridge moved forward, towards where Frederick had come from.

Once we were sure they were directly above us, Chrom and I moved out from underneath and helped Lissa up. She grabbed the ledge and scrambled up as quickly as she could, her dress still a hindrance to her movements. She wobbled on the edge of the bridge before she gained her balance and slipped her staff from behind her back.

As Chrom and I took to getting up ourselves, we heard a sickening crack and a terrible deep groan. We got up and found a new line of fire that blazed for the entrance where Frederick had been and a number of structures blown around by the wind from the wind magic user. I quickly looked for Frederick to make sure he was alright and saw no one, affirming my thoughts that Frederick had backed away once he had grabbed their attention.

Lissa stood behind one of the magic users, staff at her side tricking with blood from the skull she had just smashed. She still looked funny with her hair hanging like a mop and he big dress that drooped, save the metal frame and I couldn't help but chuckle.

In the time that Lissa had taken to attack, Garrick and his other mage had been surprised from where the little blonde basher had come from and faltered for a brief moment before they advanced on her, still not noticing us as we came up. Being weighted down by my wet cloak and just getting up, I didn't have time to get in close to help Lissa so while the magic user began his cast I quickly unsheathed my sword and chucked it at him and clocked him in the side of his head forcing him to stumble and fall over from the impact.

If there was anything more satisfying than throwing a sword at someone, and actually hitting them, I'd like to know what is was.

"You think like a pro, Raze!" Chrom joked as he dashed past me, not as hindered in mobility as I was and charged at Garrick and drew his sword in a fluid motion.

Garrick and Chrom locked blades. Unlike the others that we had fought earlier, Garrick wasn't just all muscle and sharp weapons. He had quickly blocked Chrom's blade between his own two axes and shoved him back, sending the blue hair man stumbling back to catch his balance. I planned to help Chrom after I had made sure Lissa was safe.

I ran to Lissa, grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the conflict. It was best to leave Garrick to someone more experienced like Chrom while we took care of the magic users.

Turning out attention to the men we had hit earlier I raced to my sword that I had so expertly thrown. I picked it up just as the mage closest to me had gotten up and raised my sword to bring it down on him. Suddenly a cold ripping sensation tore at the skin on my face and I felt like a giant fist had just punched my body and I became aware that my world was spinning.

Dazed I blinked and found myself crumpled against a broken barrel across the plaza. My back ached as I pushed myself up and more pain spread along my chest as I came to. Judging from the feeling and being forced back so far, I must've gotten hit with wind magic. I put my hands on my chest as I gasped for air, trying to get my breath back. I had been hit and point blank so the impact had hit harder than I had expected.

My sword was still around thankfully and hadn't blown too far away so I once again picked it up and looked to the area I had been at before.

Chrom was still locked heavily with Garrick; the bandit was large, powerful and knew how to wield his weapons. Chrom was just as experienced with his own weapon but every attack could be deflected by Garrick's hand axes which allowed his to move just as quickly and not worry about the full weight of an axe. Sizing up the fight, Chrom still had a better chance, he was more agile and if he went for Garrick's sides he could catch him off guard with a slash or two.

Lissa had been busy avoiding the mages and was thrashing at the one that had blown me away. She swung wildly near him so he had no time to cast and could only back away to avoid her swings.

I shook off the tingling sensation in my skin and the pain in my chest and ran back towards the fray, keeping an eye on Chrom and Garrick as I headed for Lissa.

The sound of hooves pounded as Frederick rode back into the plaza at full speed, lance drawn for a brutal impaling. Luckily it looked like he had gone untouched from the magic and was ready to do some damage.

We reached the area about the same time and Frederick turned to me briefly and flung something in my direction as I ran. Instinctively I caught it and instantly realized by the weight and texture that it was my tome.

"Thanks Frederick!" I called out as I closed the distance between myself and Lissa as Frederick went to assist Chrom.

I stopped short and dropped my sword, giving my full attention to the magic I needed to cast. I took a deep breath and repeated the process I had done before, channeling the electrifying energy through my body from the book and to my palm. I let loose the energy and aimed at the mage Lissa was attacking. The attack collided into his side and he lit up briefly as the powerful shock coursed through him, searing some of his flesh and sent him to the ground.

Lissa took a jump back and gasped then looked from the downed mage to me and sighed with relief, happy to see it was a friendly who had attacked. I grinned back and tucked my tome away and picked up my sword. Both of the magic users had been downed but the fire mage Lissa had hit earlier wasn't dead yet. I hated to think that I had to kill someone just to check but to assure that everyone would be okay not on fire, I had to check.

I saw him twitch on the ground before I reached him and heard him groan as he shook his head, obviously still hurting from the blow Lissa had given him. As he gazed up I was already in front of him, sword drawn back as I prepared to end him. He screamed and the next moment, my sword cut halfway into his bare neck. I swallowed hard and quickly removed my blade before I had time to think about it.

Lissa Came over and healed me quickly and we both made sure the other was alright.

We then turned our attention to Chrom and Frederick and their fight…or what was left of it rather. Frederick coming in had been a surprise to Garrick and even with his skill couldn't block both Chrom's sword and Frederick's lance. Chrom had the taken his surprise to his advantage and slashed at Garrick's back and sides as the bandit tried to avoid the knight, growling savagely at both of them.

Chrom took several steps back spun his sword in his hands and then dashed to Garrick's back again, while Frederick, who was in front, took to twirling his lance and rushing at Garrick as well.

Their attacks seemed almost synchronized with how fluidly they had both struck him at the same time, both weapons cutting through the bandit's flesh and finally ending the attack on the town.

"Excellent work everyone," I congratulated everyone upon looking around and seeing that there was no longer a threat present, save the smoking fires blazing around town.

Lissa let out a heavy sigh and slumped to the ground, exhausted like myself. Chrom grinned over at me and nodded, "Agreed. That went over rather well. It was thanks to you Raze that we even got close enough to engage Garrick and now he won't be bothering anyone anymore."

"Our work is not yet finished, milord." Frederick added as he trotted up, acting as though nothing had happened, "We must still see the citizens to safety, the fires still rage with no rain in—" He paused as he shook his head and looked to the sky, another raindrop falling on his face in the process.

The sky had become dark and rain and begun to fall, "…I see this day is not only for Grima's flames but Naga's tears as well."

Our female companion groaned, halfway through ringing her hair dry, "Of course. More water…"

Chrom laughed and looked to the fires, "What luck to have rain, it will take some time, but now the fires with die down."

I couldn't help but smile as I myself slumped to the now moist ground. It wasn't beautiful, but the job was done and the bandits wouldn't be attacking this place anytime soon.

Sighing, I closed my eyes and let the rain wash over me. It was cold but felt so relaxing now. I wished it all could've gone better, wished more lives could have been sparred and wished it didn't fall on others to kill others for peace.

I listened to the rain for just a moment longer before I could feel myself fading and before I knew it, the rain had become a sea and I was swept into a ocean of black…


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it's taken so long to update and it's not even the fun stuff yet, dunno what say besides I blame Bioshock and Monster Hunter for entertaining me waayyyy too much.

Anyway, next chapter will be out soon and much more exciting.

Thank you guys who are still bearing with me! hope you enjoy!

* * *

The first thing I remember when I had crept back into reality was an intense burning liquid in my throat. I forced myself up and tried coughing the horrid fluid out as quickly as I could, ignoring the stinging pain in my head as I did so. The taste in my mouth was a mix between spoiled meat and terrible rum. I felt like I wanted to throw up but something in my body told me the taste was the worst part I would need to face,

"Ah! Knew that would do the trick for ya'!" A annoying cheerful voice proclaimed as soon as I had bolted up.

Taking a moment to ignore my disgust I squinted as my eyes adjusted and I looked around me. Right in front of me was the smiling face of a wrinkly man with great bushels of grey hair for eyebrows and an impressive grey beard.

I blinked a few times to make sure I was seeing correctly and just stared at the old man before me, who just kept a big grin on his face. I didn't recognize him so I didn't know exactly what to say and now that I had actually woken up, I had to wonder where Chrom, Lissa and Frederick were..and where I was.

…Last thing I remember, we had gotten rid of the bandits in town and then…waking up here…

I coughed again from the awful taste again and the old man chuckled, "Never were one for liquid medications, were you Master Raze?" He slapped his knee and held a small vial of green liquid in the air and examined it, "Yet powders jus' can't do it for ya', such a shame."

Looking at the vial as he had, I repeated what he had said to me and raised an eyebrow at him, "Master?" I question slowly, I certainly didn't remember being anyone's master at all.

"Aye, that young blue told me allll about your memory! You needn't worry, yer old servant Old Hubba has got ya'! Figured ya' might forget an old-timer like me but its all as I have foreseen!"

There was something about the old man speaking that just brought a sense of annoyance to the air, he just seemed like an old man that could annoy you with only a few words.

I shook my head and let my black hair fall over my eyes as I took in what was around me. It seemed to be a small little wooden cottage, there was a kitchen and tables on the opposite end and a staircase not too far away. I was laying on what I could gather was the only bed and the old man was on a chair at the foot of the bed. From what I could tell we were the only two in the cottage and I heard no other sounds around to indicate anyone else was around.

I sighed and looked back to the Old man, who had taken to grinning at me again. I didn't feel like delving too much into the whole 'master' business until I had got my head around where I was. "Is this your place Hubba?"

"Old Hubba." He quickly corrected and stood up slowly, revealing a hunched posture under a white nd brown dusty cloak. There were writing of ancient language on the collar of his cloak that read 'Fortune' but it was hard to believe an old man would still be so verse at reading the future. "And not at all! A kind towns person of Hopeton let us use their house till you were better. You know, cause they didn't want you around the other townspeople!" he laughed and moved over to the kitchen slowly.

So I was still in the town?...And people still didn't quite trust me. They could think what they wanted though, I couldn't change who I was and my cloak was the only thing I really had and despite not remembering, I still found I had some pride as a Plegian.

I looked to my hand and saw the mark for Grima still there and felt a small chill go down my spine. I liked the mark and all…but it honestly was kind of creepy when it was one of the first things you saw who you woke up.

Seeing as I only had on pants and a shirt I looked around for my other belongings and saw my cloak hanging on a small pole to the left with all my other items laid around it on the ground. Looking at my cloak now, it actually really did look a bit ominous from where I was, the eyes on the sleeves and back and that deep purple color really sold the whole "untrustworthy" look.

I didn't want to stay in this stranger's bed for too long so slowly began to move again. My body still stung a little, especially my chest from where I was hit with that wind magic but it had been mostly healed and there wasn't so much pain that i couldn't move so I swung my legs over the side of the bed. Taking a breather from an action that strangely tired me out, I waited for a moment as my feet dangled about the floor. At sat there for a few minutes before moving again and planted my feet on the ground, shivering from the cold touch and did my best to stand without support from my arms. I wobbled slightly as blood rushed to my head and I began to feel a bit dizzy but quickly got the feeling back and made small, deliberate steps to my cloak. It was still a little wet from earlier when we had gone in the water but it was fine to wear and I slipped it back on, shivering again from the cold, wet cloth against my skin

Old Hubba came back, hobbling on a small wooden cane now and stared me up and down. "Ready to go already? Young Blue said they would come back when they were done looking after the townsfolk, should be back soon."

Putting all my stuff back on I looked back at him at his mention of this Young Blue again. "Young Blue… Would that be Chrom and the others?" I feel relieved to know they were all okay, passing out after everything I feared something may have happened to them.

The old man took my hand my led me back to the bed, "Yes, yes, so take it easy Master Raze, rest until the youngsters return."

Well if there was time left it would be best to get down to this whole Master thing, "Oh right, Hubb—"

"Old Hubba." He cut me off to correct me again.

I stared at him for a moment as he smiled at me. That was going to be annoying.

A steady inhale and exhale and I was ready again, "Old Hubba," I began, "…I'm afraid I don't quite remember you…so calling me master just seems too out of place, would you mind explaining about yourself?"

His eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked back at me, obviously thrilled I had asked.

"Well it was a cold winter night and Old Hubba had no place to sleep for the terrible night! Ya' see, I had traveled all over the old looking for my lost family heirloom! At this time I was trudging through a snowstorm with snow up to my great old knees! But yer' Old Hubba kept going cause I'm a true solider, not like those ninnies defending the country these days! So like I was say-"

I took another deep breath and held up hand up to stop the old man from going on further. I really wasn't going to get anywhere with him… "I meant…how you know of me and why you call me master?"

The luster in the man's eyes dulled and he looked to the floor and hung his head like a puppy. He stayed like this and a few times lifted his head slightly to make sure I was looking then quickly hung his head again. I didn't say anything to make it obvious I wasn't going to say anything comforting to the old guy so he finally let out a fake cough and lifted his head like nothing had happened.

I sighed at his antics. he may have been an old man but he reminded me of a small child. "Finished?"

Old Hubba made another false cough then turned away from me and held up a bony finger and started to wag it in the air, "Well, seeing as yer' the young master of the Plegian Lorieaon Grimleal, I have since looked after you for seven years!"

I felt like I would've recalled something that looked after me for so long but then again, until recently I wasn't even able to remember my name… but it did explain why I felt so at peace talking with him, even if he did annoy me something fierce…

I opened my mouth to respond to the man when a great chill coursed through my body and an eerie laugh crept back into my mind. Goosebumps covered my skin as the laugh came back and I was reminded I had an extra passenger in my mind. The voice didn't say anything this time, just laughter and a disappearing act, same as usual.

Seeing as that was out of the way, I turned my attention back to Old Hubba, "Master of the Lorieaon Grimleal, what is that? And if you've known me for so long, could you fill me on some things of my past? It's really frustrating not knowing about myself…."

"Aye…well I can help ya' out with that first one… but I'm fraid' I'm under some silence spells to stop from revealin' secrets of the Lorieaon order. Every higher up hassa' spell on their tongue to prevent slippin'! Oder has to be kept ya' know!"

Looked like I really wasn't going to get much from him after all… "…Silence spells huh? Well still…any info would be helpful, like on this 'Lorieaon"

"Of course, of course, the Lorieaon order is a magnificent faction of the Grimleal! See, although most of the Grimleal, those that worship the lord Grima, in Plegia wish for a coming of Chroniclis Grima, a war god version of Grima that gives endless strength to his soldiers and bathes in the blood of the fallen, Lorieaon Grima is a wise god that watches over the worlds past, present and future and blesses his soldiers with infinite wisdom in battle." Old Hubba explained, "Chroniclis seeks to conquer and destroy everything and devour all opposition to attain peace while Lorieaon seeks to reason with enemies and avoid bloodshed to obtain peace."

"There are many other factions of Grimleal allegiance but Lorieaon and Chroniclis are the two most well known, at least in Plegia. Lorieaons aren't happily looked upon in Plegia, a land where war was born and honor and wealth is earned by spilling blood by any means necessary. There are many details about both factions and why they are so powerful but Chroniclis is better known as most Plegian soldiers will end up coming from a Chroniclis upbringing."

The old man looked to me and smiled widely, "Across Plegia, young Master Raze raised awareness of the Lorieaon factionand has become of the youngest leader and figure head of a faction in history! Speeches and banquets are held every day with the young master as the center of attention and this old man was lucky enough to be picked to serve yer' every command!" Then his eyes narrowed as he inspected me again, "It is strange however that you've come into possession of a Chroniclis Grimleal cloak, memory or not, I wouldn't have thought the master would wear such a thing..."

My face felt warm as thoughts of speaking in front of crowds and having people listen to my words flooded my head? It was really had to believe I could ever do that… I didn't feel nearly confident enough to speak in front of people, and the thought of promoting a form of religion was even more out the question. Just what sort of person was I before…?

The whole deal about the factions made a bit more sense to me, maybe that was why I felt so driven to end fighting, because of the beliefs I had before I had lost my memory.

"That's… a lot." I breathed slowly, "I can't imagine being that important." I narrowed my eyes, "But if I'm so important in Plegia, what am I doing all the way over in Ylisse, and with no memory?"

Old Hubba took a deep sighed and plopped back down on his chair, "I have no idea, one day the young masters told me they were going for a walk and next thing I know, sailing across the sky like a butterfly! Old Hubba chased ya' both down ill my bones ached and then I saw disaster in the distance and knew you had to be around!"

I raised an eyebrow at him at his comments, ignoring what I believed to be an insult of some kind. "Wait, masters? Like more than one? Is there someo—"

"Raze!" A voice screamed my name and I jerked my head towards the door. Lissa and Chrom stood at the door, a big smile on Lissa's face and a slightly annoyed look on Chrom's as he eyed Hubba.

I grinned at their presence. It was good to see them again, not that it had been too long, but it was just nice to see them again. I couldn't see him but I heard the light clink of armor outside so I figured Frederick was outside at the door.

Lissa ran to my side and grabbed my hand, "I'm so glad you're okay Raze, we were so worried!" She gushed and looked me over, "I'm so sorry, I tried healing you the best I could but nothing I was doing was working…."

Grinning back I shook my head, "No worries Lissa, thanks for the help."

Old Hubba hobbled his way over next to me, "It was just hunger was all, Master Raze doesn't do too well on an empty stomach! He eats whiles he's sleepin' so all ya' gotta do is put some food in his face and he'll be fit as a fiddle in no time, only problem is waking em' up!" He gave a broad grin to Lissa, "I'm sure if the young master had this fine young lady to feed him, he would've woken up hours ago!"

Lissa and I locked eyes for a moment in silence and our faces flushed at the thought. I hated being made a center of attention… how could I ever be a public speaker to the masses?

Chrom groaned at Hubba and swatted his hand in the air idly, "Enough of that… Raze, this old man—"

Needless to say, the old man took his queue again and interrupted. "Old Hubba is the name, don't wear it out!"

Chrom stared at Hubba with a blank look. He had clearly been through this song and dance with the old man earlier and had picked up the same annoyance from him as I had.

"Old…Hubba…" He slowly breathed out, "Told us who he was and that he knew you and how to take care of you." He hesitated and looked at the ground, "We had little choice but to let him help seeing as the doctors of this town wouldn't see you…I'm sorry."

I shrugged and looked over my cloak again, "Doesn't surprise me and it's fine Chrom, no need to be sorry for it. I'm used to it now. I'm just glad everyone is safe."

The blue hair man smiled back warmly and nodded, "Indeed, everyone is safe because of your quick guidance and assistance." His soft blue eyes locked unto mine and he grinned, "And that was actually something I wanted to talk to you about. Your guidance at the end was impressive and you seem to have some very useful skills, Old Hubba has told us of your place in Plegia and we'd be more than happy to help you find passage back to Plegia once we send for help to this town from the capitol. In the meantime, I thought I might ask you to become a temporary tactician for the Shepherds. Until we see your return to Plegia that is."

Lissa and Chrom both beamed at me and I blinked at them, thinking about what they had just asked me. Was I really so good that they wanted me to make plans like that for every battle we came across

It seemed like a pretty good idea to me, I got to spend some more time with these guys and then I could get a way back to Plegia and hopefully figure some more stuff out. Plus, I was in no rush to head back yet, if I wanted to learn a little more about the land, I'd have to stay a bit longer.

I looked to Hubba, seeing as he would undoubtedly follow me wherever I went. He nodded contently, eyes still glued to Lissa, who didn't notice.

"Of course… I'd love to go with you guys," I smirked as I thought of something, "But is Frederick okay with that?"

Chrom nodded, "Believe or not, it was Frederick that brought it up in the first place. It may not be all of what he had intended but he certainly seems to support it now, he was quite impressed with your skills."

A grunt was heard from outside and Chrom winked, "But he doesn't want you to know that."

* * *

The others had finished up in the town with what they could do and promised to sent help from the capitol and Old Hubba and I took to checking over the equipment and making sure we everything for the trip back. There were actually several carts of supplies the Shepherds had around for their trip and though they had given some to the townspeople, there was still plenty for the five day trip but we would need to hunt for some food and forage for supplies just to be safe.

By the time the others had finished up it was already close to night, but Frederick was eager to press on as quickly as possible, a fact that had not made Lissa happy one bit…

"Urgh, can you believe this? we were offered a nice bed and food at the town but Frederick said we had to decline and get moving, even though it's almost dark! Sometimes I just hate him…" Lissa ranted as we walked side by side along the carts pulled by several horses. I felt bad that they had to leave so soon and couldn't get a proper rest. I know Frederick didn't want to say it but he pushed to move on because Old Hubba and I wouldn't have been able to sleep in a house I'm sure and they would've felt guilty so he decided we'd all camp out to be fair.

I tried my best to calm Lissa down. She was honestly pretty upset at the aspect of roughing it, I wouldn't have been too surprised she was used to the life of a princess.

I chuckled at the thought and continued on with her, agreeing with her every now and again to help while Old Hubba chuckled from atop of Frederick's horse on the other side of the cart.

"Ech! It's dark now and all the bugs are out now! Disgusting noisy bugs that buzz in your face and crawl all over you when you sleep!" Lissa froze as her eyes got big she said nothing for a few seconds. All of a sudden she began wildly flailing her arms and screaming while spitting, "Agh! Won gosh in mah mouph!"

I resisted the urge to laugh and just shook my head, I didn't know whether it was cute or annoying to have her behave like this but it did further push her pampered lifestyle idea in my head. It had gotten dark pretty quickly though and we had made it into a wooded area with some small clearings. The bugs were pretty annoying constantly buzzing in my ear but it was nothing that I couldn't stand.

Chrom sighed and left his position in the front of the group to come back to us and talk to Lissa, "Come on Lissa, that's no way to act. These kind of things build character. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Wanna come help me look for firewood, it'll help keep you moving?"

The blonde wobbled dizzily and stuck her tongue out, "I think I swallowed it… it doesn't matter if it kills me or not, I'm not getting stronger from this!" She stomped her feet and shook her head, "And I'll pass of firewood, thank you. I've had quite enough character building for one day!"

I put my hand on my stomach and felt it grumble, I needed to get some food soon… "Well I don't know about you guys but I could really get some food…I'm starving…"

Old Hubba laughed as he trotted up on Frederick's horse, "Ah the famous apatite of Master Raze, he could eat for days and not be satisfied!"

"Oh hush!" I spat as my face flushed and I kicked the ground shyly. It wasn't my fault I was hungry a lot…

Frederick came from his spot at the back of the group and nodded, "Indeed, we should set up camp. Clear the site, take what necessities we need and lay them out while others get food and fire wood."

"Right, I'll go get the firewood. Frederick you take care of the food and the rest of you set up, I entrust our stuff to you should anything happen, Raze."

Hubba climbed off of Frederick's horse as the knight took off into the words, lance drawn. I felt sorry for whatever came face to face with that man and his lance…

Now for our part… neither I nor Lissa was incredibly adept at "setting up camp", it was something I read about but once again, it wasn't easy putting it all to practice…

Hubba was no help at all, being so old and all, he had fallen asleep the moment Chrom and Frederick had left, which was surprising seeing as I pegged him to stare at Lissa some more but I guess the old guy had been on quite an adventure lately.

Lissa and I grinned at our work before us when we were done. We had tucked Hubba in a sack to sleep in and had laid out some extra sheets for our beds for the night. Lissa had only used twigs and leaves for Frederick's to be mean but I gave him some sheets for a pillow anyway just to be nice. Everything was arranged in a circle and we had a small circle in the middle to put the firewood and roast the meat. For our first time I'd say it was pretty good.

Chrom returned first and taught me how to properly make a fire. I was thoroughly impressed with his knowledge of camping and the like, he was very comfortable outdoors and out in the wild. I didn't know if I'd ever really need this knowledge but it was cool to know, never could know enough.

Frederick came trotting out of the woods on too much long, a strange smile on his face as he dismounted his horse and held his lance at his side. Blood lined the tip of his lance and there was a small dent in his chest plate I could barely make out from the fire we had left lit.

Chrom and I exchanged looks of confusion as he looked the knight over and found nothing resembled food on his person.

"Uhh, Frederick, where is the food?" Chrom frowned as he watched the knight stand a good few feet from the woods area he had just come from.

Lissa huffed, "Oh great, now we don't have any food either?!"

Frederick just smiled at us and nodded towards the woods, "Oh, it's coming." He braced himself like he was ready to strike and already figuring there was trouble Chrom and I got our weapons ready, he with his sword and I grabbed my tome for magic so I could blast away at whatever was coming.

There was a large rustle in the woods and then a roar I wasn't quite familiar with.

Lissa whimpered, "Oh Frederick you didn't…"

"I apologize milady, twas' all I could find." Frederick responded swiftly. He was still in his stand and Chrom got in close to him but left room in the middle open so that I could use my magic.

I still didn't know what was going on or what this thing was but I did know it certainly didn't bother Hubba at all…

We all stared prepared for a moment longer before something big, brown and hairy lumbered out of the woods, charging Frederick.

"A bear!" Chrom cried out, a hint of amusement and joy in his voice as he readied his sword for the bear's charge.

Reading up on bears some time ago I knew they were extremely heavy and really tough, not something you casually hunted at night for fear of getting town apart. Right now I was afraid of getting torn apart. My checklist for the day was getting out of hand of thins I really didn't want to do and fighting a bear was one of them!

I wasted no time and cast some magic right at the bear. Magic wasn't as hard the second and third times around so the shot I fired at the bear was actually pretty decent and controlled. The ball of electrified magic soared through the night, illuminating everything in it's path till it collided with the creature and it started to flail wildly in pain, the lightning undoubtedly searing but hair and flesh from its body. Taking this time to end it, Frederick charged forward and jabbed his lance though the poor things head and Chrom took to plunging his sword in its back multiple times till the beat fell with a heavy thud.

I sighed and shook my head, "Really Frederick…that's how you get food? I thought I was done for the day…"

Frederick and Chrom both lugged the bear over to us and Frederick began cutting it open immediately, "Well it's heavy. You can't expect me to have killed it myself out in the woods. I had to bring it back somehow so I just aggravated it till it came to us." He still had that strange happy-to-have-killed look on his face that gave me the creeps so I left him alone while he and Chrom took care of the bear and Lissa and I huddled by the fire to keep warm.

Once the food had been cooked, I can't I can vividly recall any conversation before I went to sleep but something about Lissa not wanting to eat and Frederick not eating either had been tossed around I think. I had been consumed in eating the parts of the bear I was given and Grima was it good! There was so much of it and it was soooo moist. I had fallen in love with it from the first bite and wanted nothing of the group's conversation as I chowed down on the glorious meat that we had, positive I needed to eat this again someday.

Fires burned savagely, gobbling up every building and life it could take and kept growing and growing till it was just sea of fire, the world was nothing more than burning flesh and bone and no life existed that could escape the hungry embers endless appetite.

A dark echoic laughter rang throughout the world, even though no one could hear it but its maker, the laughter kept getting louder and louder, nastier and more sinister….

And then like little beacons of hope, shining blue butterflies flew above the flames, just out of its reach and skillfully avoiding all contact with the burning element. There was no one who survived to see the butterflies but they were there regardless and they flew with no hesitation, no pause as they glided and flew around the world, letting the flames know that there was still something out there that resisted their heated embrace and wouldn't be extinguished by any flame.

One butterfly, the largest of them all, took a dive into the raging fire and magically, like the fire was afraid, it was pushed aside as the butterfly descended down to the earth…

Once the creature had reached the ground, the world beneath its tiny feet began to tremble and break apart, the earth violently shook and tore apart, sending waves molten lava all over the place in waves—

Waves that felt so close that I could feel the waves of heat on my face… like it was right—

I bolted right up from my spot in the campsite and looked around wildly as the earth shook beneath me. Back into reality I tried to observe everything I could and make sense of what was going on. We were still at the campsite I had fallen asleep at but Chrom and Lissa had vanished and Frederick was just getting up himself from the sudden tremor. The air was hot and thick though there was no fire in our area.

"Chrom! Lissa!" Frederick cried out as soon as he was up and looked around frantically for the siblings. The ground continued to shake violently and large cracking and tearing noises were coming from the distance. Smoke had sprung up some distance away and it did not look good…

I raced to Hubba and shook him to wake up, "Hubba, Hubba get up, we have to go!"

Barely awake the old man held up a finger and shook his finger, "That's Ol—"

"NO, no time for that Hubba!" I shouted as I ran over to where I had paid my stuff down and quickly equipped myself with all my belongings and then rushed back to help him up and rushed him up to one of the left over horses, all of which had been frightened by the tremors and were making noises now. I pushed Hubba up on one and pointed back towards the road we had come from, "Hubba, take the carts and extra supplies to the main road, hopefully it's clear, if it's not, find a clear path and wait for me to get you!"

The old man's furry eyebrows knit together in confusion at what was going on, but I didn't have time for questions, I needed him somewhere in safety and that seemed like the best things to do now. "Hubba, go NOW!"

The old man still looked shocked but guided the horse the opposite way of all the commotion and flames and the other horses, tied to the one Hubba was on, followed quickly.

I watched him go then turned to Frederick who was still calling for our other two companions and rushed over to him. "Frederick, I don't know what's going on but we're going to have to towards all that smoke, as much as I hate to think about it, I have a feeling Chrom and Lissa will be near."

Frederick nodded, "Right, trouble does start around those two." He quickly donned his armor went to his horse, who had stayed remarkably calm and climbed on then reached for my hand and pulled me up so I could sit behind him before I even had time to react. "Misfortune tends to like to breed around you three. I should hope you all find a way to stop this."

The laughter in my head roared loudly in amusement and when the laughter in my head was happy that only meant bad things were on their way… I could tell things were not going to get easier from here…


End file.
